Fragments
by endlesslyrium
Summary: A collection of fragments that were conceived in a notebook but never grew to adulthood.
1. Fragments 01

Disclaimer; I don't own _Dragon Age_.

Fragments 01

_**01**_: Hawke and Anders will never get along.

It isn't so much that they don't like one another as it was that Hawke is an arrogant, sarcastic hypocrite and Anders is an incurable fool.

Honestly, Hawke likes him just fine. She just can't stand him. He's vain and selfish and arrogant, and everything he does just brings more harm down on her friends' heads, whether he realizes it or not. She doesn't know how many times Aveline has showed up at her doorstep, handing her a report that says they're harboring apostates, or how often Cullen shows up to warn her about a raid. So she likes him, she just finds him to be incredibly dangerous - a lot like Fenris, actually. However, unlike Fenris, Anders doesn't know when to keep his damn mouth shut and his head down.

Anders doesn't like Hawke. She's arrogant and sarcastic and everything she does is against the people she should be protecting. She's a mage, for Andraste's sake. She should be helping them, not giving them to the bloody templars.

But Maker how he loves her.

_**02**_: Fenris always knew he would hurt her, because that's the only thing he seems to be really good at.

He just never thought that she wanted it that way.

**_03_**: "What _are_ you afraid of, Hawke?"

Hawke glances over at the table where Fenris is seated, nursing his drink and listening to whatever Isabella has to say, and she smiles.

**_04_**: Carver realizes too late that he's never going to return from the Deep Roads.

He can feel the corruption eating away at him, and he can't tell Marian, because he can't be sure.

He wants to blame her for this, for bringing him here, to his death. But it was he who insisted. He refused to be left behind. And, like always, Marian let him have what he wanted.

And _Maker_, how he hates her for it.


	2. Fragments 02

Disclaimer; I don't own _Dragon Age_.

Fragments 02

_01_: When Varric said he wasn't in the business of fairy tales, he was lying. He just didn't realize it at the time.

_02_: There was only one thing that Anders believed in more than the justness of his cause. And he just let her walk away.

_03_: Sometimes Kallian wonders why she cares. But she knows why. She cares because she doesn't know how not to.

_04_: The rain pounded on the roof, so many stories above them, and Hawke clung to her mother's body and sobbed.

_05_: Fenris is shaking when he finds her - shaking from the cold, and the pain in his shoulder, and the fear that she will reject him. And with the fear that maybe, loving her isn't enough to save her.


	3. Fragments 03

Disclaimer; I don't own _Dragon Age_.

Fragments 03

_01_: Carver always chose dare. It was easier than facing the truth.

_02_: Bethany always chose truth. She didn't like being forced into anything.

_03_: Hawke didn't play Truth or Dare, because her thoughts were her own and she refused to allow her decisions to be made for her.

_04_: Hawke, Fenris decides, is not an exceptionally bad person.

Granted, she can be a bit of a bitch. She's direct and aggressive and probably needs to lay off on her brother. But she's strong, and she has a sense of humour - one that she even lets out sometimes. And making her laugh is probably the greatest thing he can do.

_05_: Anders is like broken glass. Beautiful, but dangerous. Get too close, and you cut your hands.


	4. Fragment

Disclaimer; I don't own _Dragon Age_.

Fragment (Just the One)

The Deep Roads, Hawke decides, are simply not for her.

She draws a picture in the dirt, trying to ignore the rest of the expedition as they set camp, laughing and talking and arguing and generally making more noise than can possibly be healthy, given the fact they're neck deep in darkspawn territory. She had tried to help, but the guards had told her in no uncertain terms that they don't _need_ her help, and they don't _want_ her help, and maybe the pretty little girl should sit down so she doesn't break a nail.

Varric had distracted her with alcohol and stories before she could set fire to their trousers, and now she's too bored to care. Behind her, she can hear Anders and Fenris arguing over mages' rights; to her left, Varric is talking to Bartrand with a very low, not-quite-soothing voice.

If she had wanted to be half-drunk, bored out of her wits, and listening to grown men bicker like children, she thinks, she would have stayed home with Carver and Gamlen. As it is, she is instead doing what she does every evening, except in a tight, stuffy tunnel filled with sexist bastards and dwarves. She wonders if this is what her life will be like from here on out. Maker she hopes not.

"Hawke," Anders is saying her name now, and she glances back at him, resting her cheek against her arm. "Hawke, surely _you_ see how much of an injustice the Circle is."

Hawke blinks, staring at him. "What injustice would that be?" she asks. Anders takes a deep breath, obviously preparing for a lecture, but she cuts him off. "The world is full of injustice, Anders. I suggest trying to champion a cause that actually needs your help."

"Mages _do_ need help!" Anders snaps, and Hawke rolls her eyes.

"If it really bothered them," she says, "then they would escape. It's what you did, what my father did, what Karl tried to do. The only reason they're imprisoned is that they want it that way."

Anders is staring at her. Fenris is staring at her. Varric is still arguing with Bartrand, which makes the whole thing less awkward.

"You don't honestly believe that," Anders says finally. "Why would anyone want to be trapped in a prison?"

Hawke glances at Fenris. "Why do slaves bow to their masters?" she asks. "It's all they know. People _like _having things be the way they've always been. It's safe. It's predictable. You stay a slave because you can bear the whiplash; you stay in the Circle because you can bear the scrutiny. No one can force you to stay where you are."

Anders clenches his teeth. "You know nothing of the oppression of the templars," he snaps. "You've had it easy, living your whole life squirreled away with a family that loves you, not having to bow to the templars or the Chantry."

Hawke looks away, resumes her drawing. "Because my family loves me so very, very much," she says. "You can see it in the way they haven't forgiven me for Bethany's death, and the way they let me always be in charge, because they can't face the consequences when something goes wrong." She draws a scar across Carver's cheek where she split it open after he joined the army. "There are more ways than one to be trapped, Anders. And in my opinion, your precious _Circle _has it easy."


	5. Fragments 04

Disclaimer; I don't own _Dragon Age_.

Fragments 04

_01_: Hawke doesn't mean to break people's hearts. It's just a side effect of someone crushing her own.

_02_: Fenris knows from the moment he holds his daughter in his arms that he'll love her forever. He doesn't know how not to.

_03_: Anders expects Hawke to kill him. He doesn't expect her to forgive him first.

_04_: Sebastian knows he should have been in the Chantry. He never imagined that Hawke felt the same way.

_05_: Fenris had never gone to the Chantry before. He hasn't been back since.

_06_: Hawke doesn't know why she's crying until she looks around and realizes that she's alone.


End file.
